CloudFlare, which was a TechCrunch Disrupt runner-up last Fall, offers a service that protects websites from online threats, promises and increase in page load speeds, and more. The startup made recently waves when it was revealed the security service was being used by infamous hackers LulzSec. And CloudFare just announced a $20 million round of funding.

File sharing company Dropbox is on a roll of late, with its 25 million users (many of which are paying), uploading 200 million files a day. The company is expected to announce a $200 million to $300 million funding round soon, which could value the company at a whopping $4 billion.

Founded in 2004 by former PayPal employees and Stanford computer scientists, Palantir offers a high-powered analysis platform for businesses and governments. The company analyzes a variety of data including structured, unstructured, relational, temporal, and geospatial content. The virtue of of Palantir is that it accepts huge databases and allows users to slice and dice this information. The company has raised a massive $175 million, most recently adding $50 million to its coffers.

Crowd-funding website Kickstarter allows anyone with an idea for a film, album, art project, or product to make their pitch, say how much they need to get started, and ask for pledges. Once the minimum amount needed is pledged, the project gets started. To date, Kickstarter has helped fund more than 25,000 projects, with $75 million pledged.

According to the organization, Technology Pioneers are chosen on the basis how innovative a company is, the potential impact on society, growth and sustainability, proof of concept, leadership and more.